Review: Higgidy & the Beauty of Imperfection

A good pie, to me, represents the ultimate in comfort food. That combination of crumbly, flakey pastry and a protein packed filling is the formula for a perfectly satisfying meal. As a young girl, my mother used to make the best pies I’d ever tasted. She would use my grandmother’s pie crust recipe – a recipe my grandmother had brought from England when she immigrated to Canada to marry my grandfather after the war. That pie crust recipe was used for both savoury and sweet fillings and baked to a perfect crust every time.

I do make that recipe, on occasion, but you know, sometimes, you just want someone else to do all the pie-making work for you.

This is where Higgidy comes in.

Higgidy was officially established in 2003 from The Higgidy Kitchen in West Sussex (incidentally, the same borough my grandmother came from!). Co-founded by husband and wife team Camilla Stephens and James Foottit the business has gone from strength to strength over the last decade and a half. They started with a small range of four pies and now make over twenty different pies, quiches and sausage rolls, including a range of lower-calorie ‘Little Pies’.

The word ‘Higgidy’ refers to the fact that all of their pies, quiches and sausage rolls are not perfect, that they will always look slightly different from their neighbours. Perfect has its place when it comes to food, but the best tasting food always looks a bit ‘Higgidy’.

That’s why I never wanted Higgidy to be about precision or perfection. Because what matters is the joy of sharing delicious food with the people you love. There’s no need to worry if your napkins don’t match or your pastry isn’t perfect – in fact, the best bits of a meal are often the slightly burned edges of your roast potatoes or the gooey, undercooked middle of a chocolate fudge brownie. – Camilla Stephens, co-founder

Higgidy has recently redesigned their packaging with a completely new look. Their bright and arty designs can now be easily spotted on shelves in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, the Co-op, Booths, Budgens, Boots, Tesco, Asda and many other participating stockists. They are also available from Ocado.

What’s your favourite Higgidy product? Is it their spinach, feta and toasted pine nut pie – a vibrant pie a little like a Mediterranean holiday on a plate. Is it their cauliflower cheese pie with oat crumble – a richly comforting pie that makes a perfect midweek sofa supper, or perhaps you prefer their slow cooked steak and red wine pie – much like the beef bourguignon that inspired the recipe, their classically French pie is reminiscent of elegantly lit bistros, deep full red wine and the odd Gallic shrug.

Let me know in the comments below and be in for a chance to win four Higgidy vouchers – lunch, on us!

GIVEAWAY – HAVE A PIE ON US!

We’d like to invite you to lunch! There are four Higgidy vouchers worth £14.20 up for grabs for one lucky UK reader. These vouchers can be redeemed against any Higgidy product of your choice.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

This giveaway is open to UK entries only. Entrants must be age 18 or over. The winner will need to respond within 30 days of being contacted; failure to do this may result in another winner being selected.

The prize is offered and provided by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary. The prize is to win four Higgidy vouchers worth £14.20. There is no cash alternative and the prize is not transferable.

There is no entry fee and no purchase is necessary to enter this giveaway.

The promoter (Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary) reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice.

Entry into our giveaways will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.

If you need some help using Rafflecopter, here’s a quick clip to show you how. Rafflecopter will pick the winner at random from all the entries received. I will be verifying entries. Any automated entries or those who have claimed they have made the mandatory blog post comment and really haven’t will be disqualified. It’s mandatory! Please make sure your comment is eight words or longer or Google views it as spam and this negatively affects my spam score. All entries with comments fewer than the mandatory 8 words will be disqualified and deleted.

Closing date is midnight (that’s 00:00 hours, 12 am on Sunday night/Monday morning) on Monday 20 March 2017 (GMT). The winner will be announced afterwards.

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Higgidy. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands who make it possible for me to do what I love: mess up my kitchen and share recipe stories.

For me, the chicken pot pie is the best- but I have actually tried the pork, cider and red cabbage (I think that was it)- was a bit iffy about whether I’d like it as much as I’m not a real fan of red cabbage, but it was lovely. Nothing beats a chicken pie though- homemade, Higgidy style eating in front of the TV, at a train station or, well, anywhere.

I love the cauliflower cheese pie with oat crumble, just delicious!! I also love the new packaging, not what you’d expect pie packaging to look like but it’s unique, bold and very eye catching. Good job! X

My favourite is one I tried for the first time recently – cauliflower cheese pie with oat crumble – it is delicious! Tried it after spotting it with the new packaging, which I love, so different from other pie brands

My favourite pie (that I’ve tried so far) is Spinach, Feta & Toasted Pine Nut Pies. The new packaging is pretty and all, but it doesn’t look very foodie – more something you’d expect to find soaps or nice hankies in (sorry, but that’s what I think).

My fave Higgidy pie is their delicious cauliflower cheese with oat crumble. I like the new bold designs on their packaging but I’ve always admired how most of their effort is concentrated on the product not fancy, over the top packaging.

I don’t like the new packaging at all. It’s not what you would expect pie packaging to look like. I have never tried higgidy products. But I’m sure I would love the Pork, Sussex Cider & Red Cabbage Pie

Chicken Pot Pie with Ham & Leeks is my fave. I like the packaging from a quirky artistic point of view but it doesn’t really seem to gel with the idea of what food packaging normally looks like, it could be anything really and doesn’t really indicate the contents in an easy to spot and understandable way.

My favourite is the British Beef, Stilton and Sussex Ale pie. However I HATE the new packaging! I expect a pie package to give me a good idea of what my pie and its filling will look like, and I find the idea that my beef pie actually contains a fox, apparently running away from hounds looking at the speed it is moving, very offputting. I will probably pass over these on the shelf now and pick up one with a photo on the package, even if it turns out to be a less tasty pie.
Jane

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